Lost Souls
by frostedheavens
Summary: Two souls,seeking for an escape from the endless cycle of solitude and revenge... An encounter in the forest might just lead to the answer of some of their questions. Bankotsu x Kikyo


**A long one-shot on Bankotsu and Kikyo for you people! I had been thinking of doing this unusual pairing ever since I saw their encounter in the forest in the anime series… Ah well. If you don't like this pairing, then don't read. … Well, as if you need me to tell you that. XD **

**On with it! **

**Disclaimer: This is blatantly obvious to you people…I do not own Inuyasha. If I did, the ending wouldn't have ended off in a cliffy. **

* * *

Bankotsu walked through the forest, his long black braid swishing back and forth, his weapon Banryuu rested upon his shoulder, his halberd twice his size. The bright moonlight shone down, but yet everything still seemed so… _colourless_, somehow. So…dull and lifeless. Just like how he was feeling at the moment.

All his brothers had died in battle, and now, he was truly alone in the world. How he loathed loneliness. It made him feel helpless, weak, and aching. This was _not _how one of the most feared mercernaries was supposed to feel. What was he even _doing _around here, anyway? He had lost his friends, the only family he had ever known… What was the point in killing if there wasn't anyone to enjoy it with him? Kyoukotsu. Mukotsu. Ginkotsu. Suikotsu. Even Renkotsu, who had betrayed him. But…Bankotsu could actually understand Renkotsu's feelings. After all, what sort of leader was he? He had gotten them killed in their first lives, all because of his own blind trust and stupidity… and now, he had caused their deaths, yet again. All because he had accepted Naraku's offer of a second chance at life again. He had known that Naraku's intentions were definitely not for the welfare of the Shichinintai. He knew that Naraku was evil. But Bankotsu thought, hey? Who cares about that? He himself killed countless people, and he supposed he had no right to think of anyone as _evil. _

How he regretted that now. He had refused to heed Renkotsu's warning, and easily replied that as long they could do as they liked, it would be alright… Despite his lack of trust in Naraku, he still foolishly did as Naraku instructed. Could he blame Renkotsu for getting paranoid? With the way he was leading them? Of course he couldn't. But what he couldn't forgive was Renkotsu plotting to kill his own ally just to ensure his own survival. However, the lingering emotion of guilt still resided in him, for having to kill Renkotsu with his own hands… and even greater feeling of shame for letting his best friend, Jakotsu, down. Jakotsu had been his first friend, and damn all the insults about Jakotsu being gay to the eighteenth level of hell… Jakotsu had been a valued companion, way before he formed the Shichinintai. Someone who understood and cared for him. True, he didn't find Jakotsu's unconceivable infatuation with Inuyasha all that pleasing… But had Bankotsu not proclaimed that Jakotsu was the only one he could rely on just before the feminine man was murdered? Yet…he couldn't do anything to protect Jakotsu. He wasn't even there in Jakotsu's final moments.

The pain and loss threatened to overwhelm him, and he felt the beginnings of rare tears come to his eyes once more while his urge to yell in misery increased ten-fold. That hanyou's words came back to him… _A dead zombie like you should just get kicked back into his grave…_

Bankotsu snorted disdainfully, crushing a wild flower beneath him with his foot in irritation. A person like that would never be able to understand what it meant to be living on borrowed time. He had his own companions, all by his side, alive and kicking, and that girl too. Kagome, that was her name? Naturally, Bankotsu wasn't exactly fond of her, but he actually felt a stab of jealousy at the hanyou for having that amount of love the girl radiated for him. Even an idiot could sense that Kagome cared for Inuyasha deeply… cared for him in a way that was foreign to Bankotsu.

Bankotsu kicked a rock in frustration. Who was the mutt to talk anyway?! That dead priestess, Kikyo, the one he had run into before, was around too, searching to finish off Naraku. What about her then? Inuyasha didn't blame _her_ for being dead. What a hypocrite. A hanyou like him, flitting between two women had no right to talk about the leader of the Shichinintai that way.

And speaking of Kikyo…

A slight movement caused him to look up and find Kikyo standing on the ledge beside him. _Well, I guess I gotta admit that Kikyo's quite good-looking…_he found himself thinking sardonically.

"Kikyo, huh?" he said, his light scowl fixed on his handsome features. "Come to ask me about life and death again?"

"I was just taking a walk, Bankotsu," Kikyo replied, her voice devoid of emotion as usual.

"Walk? I see… We sure run into each other a lot, eh?" Bankotsu smirked. Inwardly though, he wondered… Perhaps she had been plagued by similar troubles as he? After all, she WAS dead too…

"Only once before," Kikyo said somewhat drily.

"Calculative, aren't you?" Bankotsu grinned. Kikyo merely stared back at him, but the young killer thought he saw a fleeting emotion cross those mahogany orbs. Amusement at his reply, perhaps? How truly nonplussing.

"Walk with me, then?" Bankotsu found himself saying carelessly before he could stop himself.

Bankotsu saw Kikyo's eyes widen slightly at his invitation. _Well, duh. _Bankotsu thought wryly. How many mercernaries invite people on walks just for the sake of company?

When Kikyo didn't react, he shrugged, adjusting Banryuu. "Well, it's your choice," he stated, before continuing ahead. What had he been expecting, anyway… A priestess agreeing to accompany someone in the employ of Naraku, who wanted her dead with all his guts? Hardly likely.

So he received a surprise when he heard footsteps behind him. Without turning his head, he knew immediately who was trailing his wake.

Bankotsu slowed down a little, waiting for Kikyo to catch up, until she was a mere foot behind him. They walked on in silence, each secretly glad for someone to walk with, even if they were supposed to be enemies… Glad that for once, they weren't living in solitude.

"Bankotsu…" Kikyo's soft voice caught his attention.

"Hah?"

"Where…where are your comrades? The rest of the Shichinintai?" she asked, sounding unusually hesitant and careful. It was as if she was wondering if she should've asked.

Bankotsu stiffened at her question. He wasn't sure if she was going to ask him any further than that, because if so, he sure as heck wouldn't be able to bear answering her.

"They died," he replied brusquely, and quickened his pace forward. Kikyo apparently got the hint, for she pressed on no longer and the twosome continued trudging on without another word.

After what felt like over an hour, Bankotsu was wondering about taking her to the place where often frequented and rest for the night, when a stirring in the darkness aroused his senses immediately. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kikyo pulling out an arrow and attaching it to her bow.

"A youkai?" he asked. He got an affirmative nod in response.

Instantly, a large, red demon emerged from the trees, towering over them and the two undead humans. It had a scaly body, whiskers sprouting from either side of its mouth. Two glowing red eyes glinted like translucent rubies, and its jaws were wide open in a ferocious snarl, revealing jaggard fangs.

"Hmph! A dragon, eh?" Bankotsu scoffed.

"It'll be a lot stronger than the other demons," Kikyo warned, aiming her arrow at the blood-red demon.

"Keh! I don't care if it's a dragon or not!" Bankotsu growled. "If you want some, then come and get me!" He yelled out his last words, pent-up emotion clearly heard in his harsh voice. He wanted something, anything – to take out his anger on. He needed to work off the bottled-up anger and sadness he had been keeping in for so long…

The dragon lunged forward, granting his wish. With his own battle cry, he launched himself upwards, twirling his Banryuu with a shocking speed, aiming to slice through the demon's body. However, he only succeeded in making a scratch in the rock-hard layer.

"Bankotsu!" he heard Kikyo cry as she released her arrow, attempting to purify the demon once and for all. But the dragon dodged the arrow, moving faster than anyone expected with such a heavy body.

"DON'T INTERFERE!" Bankotsu roared at Kikyo, and made another try to stab at the demon.

"Wait, Bankotsu!" Kikyo called out urgently. "There's a Jewel…"

But what she said, Bankotsu didn't hear. His movements were wild, reckless – he knew he was fighting rashly, battling the dragon with needless force, but he didn't care. All that was running through his mind were his dead brothers. His own foolishness. But more than anything else, his hidden fear of loneliness…

"GRAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Bankotsu yelled furiously, as he swiped his weapon at the beast's head. But even his Banryuu, which could kill almost anyone with just a single hit, only formed cuts and grazes on the demon.

Bankotsu though, didn't seem to be the only one enraged. His opponent seemed to be getting fed-up with all the injuries the young mercenary was inflicting on it. With a roar that shook the very earth below it, it made to sink its jaws into Bankotsu, intending to devour him headfirst.

Bankotsu swung his weapon – but the dragon dislodged him of it with its huge head, sending it flying to the ground and made sink its jaws into the unarmed man before it.

He froze. Without his weapon, he couldn't possibly deal with it. He allowed his emotions to get the better of him, and acted without thinking…and now he was going to pay the price. _Going to die through like a fool, again…_he bitterly thought.

But the dragon never made it to its target. Another arrow emitting a pink light shot through its neck, knocking out what seemed to be like –

The dragon, furious beyond comprehension, swung its tail at the culprit responsible, throwing her several feet away from where she was standing, making her utter a strangled scream as she was slammed into a tree.

"Kikyo!" Bankotsu shouted over his shoulder. Making a split decision, he caught the Jewel shard that had flown out from the dragon, and grabbed his Banryuu imbedded in the earth.

The dragon gave one last roar – and Bankotsu cut its head cleanly off with all his might. The remains of the demon fell back down, causing the ground to tremble violently underneath its weight.

"Shit," Bankotsu muttered, and dashed over to where Kikyo was lying. His own sense of curious dread increased when he saw a gash in her shoulder... but she wasn't bleeding… instead, small, glowing balls of light were streaming steadily out.

"The dead souls… they're coming out…" Kikyo rasped weakly, struggling to keep herself upright. "Without them, I can't…go on…"

"Dead souls?" Bankotsu looked up and saw Kikyo's Soul Collectors flying around frantically, making an unsuccessful attempt to catch the souls that were slowly flowing out from her gash… A rather childish panic gripped him, and he feverishly put his calloused hands over the wound, trying to contain as much souls as he could. But alas, the souls merely slipped through his fingers.

"No way! Why can't it work?" Bankotsu cried out.

Kikyo felt herself growing more and more powerless by the second. And yet, the rather comical expression of a child trying (but failing) to fix a broken toy was all over his face, and Kikyo almost felt deigned to laugh.

"Such – such a thing…won't work…" Kikyo stammered, giving a half-hearted smile.

"How can I stop it?" Bankotsu demanded.

"I need my burial soil…my graveyard soil… from Kaede's village… over there, beyond that hill…" Kikyo pointed a quaking finger at a hill behind him.

"It's not safe here, I'll take you somewhere first," Bankotsu said quickly. He strapped the Banryuu to his back and carried Kikyo bridal-style before setting off in an opposite direction.

"Where…where are we…"

"You'll see when we get there. Now, don't talk."

When it was clear he wouldn't say anymore on the subject, Kikyo fell silent. She felt a momentary surge of unease for a while. _Is it all right to trust him? _But she dismissed that notion, feeling that something about this young man seemed secure enough… Just like Inuyasha, really… She unwittingly snuggled closer to the mercenary.

_So warm…_

They soon arrived at a highly familiar place – the Shichinin Grave, where she had once promised the villagers to perform purification. Bankotsu led her to a small cave a little way from there, a large field of grass outside under the night sky and laid her against the rough wall.

"Wait here," he commanded, and made off in the direction of where Kikyo once lived 50 years ago.

* * *

Kikyo awoke slowly, her eyes blurry. _Where am I...? _Then she remembered. Bankotsu… she saw the back of the man before her, tending to the fire.

Her stirring caused Bankotsu to turn and look back at her. "You're finally awake?" he said unnecessarily.

"Did – did you…"

"Keh, of course I did. How do you think you're still around here?" he snorted, and switched back to the flames.

He had gone through quite a bit of trouble retrieving Kikyo's grave soil, seeing as he didn't know exactly WHERE Kikyo's grave was around in the village. When he had finally located it, he just had the bad luck to run into who supposedly was Kikyo's younger sister, Kaede, who looked at least 50 years older than Kikyo was now. The rest of the story? Well, predicatable enough. Shouting, alerting of the villagers, arrows pointed at him… damn, it was because of Kikyo that he didn't just slash away at her old hag of a sister and everyone else (though he didn't know exactly WHY he was thinking about Kikyo. He was the one helping her out, wasn't he?). But he managed to get a handful of her burial soil, and got away with it, so no harm done.

When he finally arrived back at the cave, he saw that Kikyo had lost consciousness. After filling her wound with the soil to patch it up, he still had to wait for her Soul Collectors to replenish herself with dead souls in order for her to wake up.

"Did you get caught, Bankotsu?" Kikyo now asked.

"Caught?" he inquired, and then gave a smirk as realization dawned on him. "Oh…you mean by the villagers? Yeah, I did, as a matter of fact."

He turned his head around once more and saw Kikyo's eyes narrow with suspicion and tension. "You did not… did you?"

"Whatever do you mean, Kikyo?" he drawled, although he already knew what she was driving at. "Make yourself clear."

"You know what I mean!" Kikyo said furiously. "The villagers…did you kill them?"

"What will you do if I did?" Bankotsu demanded, nettled at her sharp tone. He stood up suddenly and faced her fully. This _woman…_ not even grateful after all his trouble to save her! All she cared was about those poor, poor villagers, who didn't give a damn about her existence!

"How could you?" Kikyo cried. "They were innocent!"

"Innocent? You call them innocent? Shit, they don't even remember you, much less care about you!" Bankotsu said angrily. "And do you think they would've spared ME, if I were in their position, you ungrateful wench? I did it to save YOU, in case you don't remember!"

"Even so, there wasn't a need to kill them!" Kikyo replied heatedly, her normally void mahogany orbs flashing with anger. Her heart was also thumping with a sinking worry… "Kaede…"

"Your sister? You still care about her? How stupid can you get, Kikyo? Do you think she loves you as she did when she was a brat?" Bankotsu shouted, clenching his fist to restrain from breaking her neck. "So pathetic, Kikyo… Don't you get it? No one likes you. Even that mutt, Inuyasha… he's too much in love with your reincarnation…"

"Don't drag Inuyasha into this," Kikyo warned, cringing inwardly at the thought of her former love.

"What's the matter? Did I hurt your feelings, Kikyo?" Bankotsu sneered, reminding the priestess of one of her encounters with Inuyasha when she first met him, when the half-demon had taunted her about her 'reeking of demons' blood'. "Face it, Kikyo. That's the ugly reality of it all, no one regards you as anything… you're all alone in this world, and no one remembers your value… Everyone prefers your reincarnation over you; they all always take her side when it comes to your relationship with Inuyasha… You…"

"BE QUIET!" Kikyo screamed in anguish.

And Bankotsu did just that when he heard the break in her usually level tone. Kikyo's head was cast down, her black fringe hiding her eyes, her body trembling. Bankotsu scowled, looking down. He had wanted to go on with his tirade, to wake her up, make her face the truth of it all… that the world was rotten… but now, he couldn't seem to go on any further. For goodness' sake… why was she making him feel as though he had done something wrong? The only times he felt guilty were when in regards to his dead brothers…

Bankotsu whirled back, his braid following him, and he sat down again forcefully. "Forget it," he said gruffly. After a short pause, he spoke again. "And get one thing straight, I didn't lay a hand on those villagers. I was just messing around with you."

A long silence followed. Bankotsu thought that Kikyo wasn't going to speak to him again for the night, and he certainly wasn't going to break the ice. Until, Kikyo's once-more calm voice addressed him, "I'm sorry… Even after you went through all the trouble to save me…"

"Forget it," Bankotsu repeated, and cupped his face in one hand on his knee. "I guess… I shouldn't have said that kind of stuff." He wasn't accustomed to apologizing.

"Bankotsu…how about the fight with the dragon… Your emotions weren't normal back just now. You looked as though…you were in pain," Kikyo stated, wishing that she could see his expression now.

Bankotsu was quiet for a while, and then sighed, ruffling his bangs in a weary sort of manner. "You're right," he agreed tiredly, turning back yet again to face her, cross-legged. Just that one fight drained a generous amount of his energy. "I guess I needed some stress relief, if you know what I mean." He smirked half-heartedly, but not quite meeting the woman's eyes.

"Were you angry about your companions' deaths?" Kikyo asked softly.

"Yeah… And a lot of other things also," Bankotsu let out a short breath of air.

"Can you tell me?"

Bankotsu looked up at the priestess without a word, as if contemplating about something. "It's…complicated," he said finally. "I guess you could say I'm angry at a lot of things these days. For starters, Inuyasha, since he had a bit of a hand in my companions' passing, though I know he wasn't really the one who killed them. At even Naraku, since he was the one who made us go have all those fights that eventually caused my brothers' demise, and he doesn't seem to care if we die, as long as we drag Inuyasha and his enemies down with us. And basically everyone else who were responsible in one way or another for all this. But what I'm most furious at, what I'm REALLY upset with is…myself."

"Because you were the one leading the Shichinintai?"

"That's just part of the reason. It's more than that," Bankotsu replied frustratedly, riffling his hand through his black hair. "What really bugs me is the fact that I'm _living. _It was because of _me_, that my allies are dead."

"It wasn't…"

"Yes, damn bloody yes, it was my fault!" Bankotsu exclaimed, jerking his head up at Kikyo, his cerulean gaze burning. "First time – I trusted those accursed daimyou, never thinking for even once, that they would betray us. Thanks to that, we were all beheaded. Then when Naraku resurrected us, we weren't even really living people, but we could deal with that, as long as we could have another chance to live again. Or, at least, that was what _I_ thought. And when Renkotsu tried to warn me about Naraku, I just felt that as long as we could do what we could in the past, there was no point in worrying about anything. Although I didn't trust Naraku, I still went along with his orders and look where it got us! Foolishness…I thought that if Naraku were to try to go back on his offer of the Sacred Jewel fragments, I would just cut him down, and that would have been the end of it!"

Kikyo stared at him, her feeling of both sympathy and empathy welling up inside her as she saw the boy in front of her, shaking with disappointment and unfuelled rage. How he had been suffering all this while and there was no one to care, no one to look past his murdering façade… All this proved that there was more – much more – to the killer other than the bloodshed all the others saw.

"I didn't even think that I had been underestimating Naraku's abilites… I was too simple-minded, always have been, despite having spent practically all my life travelling and facing numerous dangers… I've had a look at how powerful Naraku has grown ever since he came out of Mount Hakurei, and it's only a matter of time before he comes after me to get back the Jewel shards, I know he will… Though I guess it might be better that way, then I wouldn't have to live with this guilt if I'm still around… It's no wonder Renkotsu turned against me, with the way I was leading them…"

Bankotsu paused, hiding his face in his hand, taking deep breaths. "My parents… they had been killed by bandits and thieves when I was still a kid. After I got myself homeless, I saw what kind of destruction the wars brought, how everyone were either attacked by bandits or demons. Everyone around me seemed to be dying somehow… So I thought the only way to live through all this was to become the strongest. The soft-hearted and the weak would only get trampled on and picked off in no time. So I worked…worked on becoming the most powerful human in whole of Japan…I also saw how demons looked down on humans as fresh meat, saw how they scorned at how weak we humans were… I didn't think they had any right to talk of us like that. Creatures that were born with supernatural powers from the very minute they came into this world… and they still had the nerve to mock us when we had NOTHING. We humans couldn't help being the born the way we are now, with no abilities whatsoever…and they taunted us when the demons were really no different from us. I wanted to prove that humans weren't weak; I wanted to surpass even demons, so that no one would dare to hurt me, or mock me… And I thought I had finally made it. Hardly anyone could go on par with me and Banryuu. I also had Jakotsu with me, and soon, the rest of the Shichinintai…but still… I turned out pathetic, unable to protect the people around me. I really am _weak…_" He spat out the word 'weak' like some poisonous venom.

"No, you're not," Kikyo interrupted. She raised herself up slightly, bringing herself closer to Bankotsu. "You're not weak."

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?"

"You know," Kikyo said, with a small smile on her face. "You and Inuyasha are alike."

"Me? And that mutt?" Bankotsu frowned distastefully at the thought of being compared with the hanyou. He was the same as Inuyasha? How the hell could anyone come up with that? "And what has that got to do with anything?"

"Inuyasha's childhood was the same as you," Kikyo continued as though she hadn't heard him. "Inuyasha had lost his father almost as soon after he was born, and his mother soon died of illness too. He lived, neither demon nor human, rejected by both sides…that's how he was treated all through his life. That's the reason why he desired the Shikon no Tama in the first place, to become the strongest youkai… he is the same as you. After surviving being bullied by both humans and demons alike, he wanted to create his place in the world by obtaining more power. He had no family to speak of, save for his half-brother, Sesshomaru, and the taiyoukai despised his tainted blood too. When his mother died, he had no one to turn to… So he thought that the only way to survive was to become the strongest."

Another silence followed, more prolonged than the others. Bankotsu then chuckled bitterly. "Heh…so that Inuyasha and I do have something in common, after all…"

"More than you think," Kikyo confirmed. "I know how you feel, Bankotsu." She cupped his face in both of her slender hands and gazed into his cerulean orbs.

"Do you?" Bankotsu questioned, raising an eyebrow, and feeling somewhat thrown by Kikyo's gesture.

"Yes, I do. The feeling of loneliness and the feeling of having no one to look to for comfort, of having to be the strong one all the time… I understand."

"Hmph." Bankotsu pulled her hands away, never breaking eye contact. "What do you understand, then?"

"For me, when I was alive, I always thought I would never fall in love," Kikyo reminisced, staring into the dancing flames. "I thought it to be a weakness, a distraction from my mission to protect the Jewel… I wasn't allowed to be weak, and neither could I afford to be so. When I met Inuyasha, I thought that perhaps, at last, I could be a woman, a real woman…but Naraku shattered that dream, and I went to hell, carrying an immense grudge…"

"Then? How did you get revived?" Bankotsu asked, taking her in closely.

"I was awakened by Urasue; with a body of clay and soil…I tried to kill Inuyasha, whom I thought betrayed me, and later on, Kagome too." Kikyo's eyes narrowed with what seemed to be regret.

"Kagome? That girl who's always with Inuyasha?"

"Yes. I thought her a hindrance, getting in the way of Inuyasha and I… but it was only after I finally got a better understanding of their own relationship, that I accepted it as such," Kikyo answered, turning to look at Bankotsu, a sad ghost of a smile on her face.

"You sure you can accept them? Inuyasha going with another woman?" Bankotsu didn't mean that as a question. He waited to see her response.

"I am one of the dead; Inuyasha can never be with me, unless he comes with me to hell," Kikyo laughed a little, but to Bankotsu, it sounded more like she was crying. "I tried to do that once – but… Inuyasha doesn't deserve something like that. Not a life in hell when he still has…still has so much to live for…"

"Do you – I mean, how do you think of the girl?" Bankotsu asked hesitantly.

Kikyo didn't say anything for a minute or two, and Bankotsu thought she wasn't going to answer.

"I…" Kikyo started. "I do feel jealous of the life she is having…with friends, with love, with family… maybe the life I could've led with Inuyasha if only I had lived. But Inuyasha and Kagome belong together now. What's past is past. And…I believe that Kagome will be good for him. She loves him, trusts him, in the sort of way I could never do for Inuyasha. And I know Inuyasha might not get over me if I do not keep my distance. That's why I cannot go to see him all the time, or things will never change."

Bankotsu heard her pronouncement, and felt an unknown jab in his stomach that had nothing to do with tiredness when he figured that after all this time; Kikyo still loved Inuyasha, after all. "Geez," Bankotsu sighed. "I don't get why love is just so darn complicated. Who needs that kind of pain, anyway?"

Kikyo smiled. "But sometimes, it is with this pain that we become more understanding and stronger."

"I could still do without it, though," Bankotsu maintained, flopping onto his back, hands behind his head. "I don't have interest in that kind of thing."

Kikyo's smile grew a mite wider, and…dare he say it…more _playful_, perhaps? "You know, it was those kind of thoughts I harboured before I did fall in love."

"Oh?" Bankotsu challenged, sounding intrigued. He pulled himself back up, a grin on his face. "Wanna bet?"

"What makes you so certain that you won't love another in time to come?" Kikyo asked, amused.

"Hmmm…maybe it's because I'm already head over heels in love with someone right in my presence, right…now," Bankotsu retorted teasingly, scanning her up and down.

"Fool," Kikyo said, but she didn't seem to be offended.

Bankotsu merely smirked. He hadn't had fun like this for a quite some time now, no matter how little it was. Weird that it was with his supposed enemy…even weirder that he didn't mind that at all.

"Uh?" Kikyo suddenly uttered. She stood up and went over to outside the cave, her untied hair flowing loosely behind her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Bankotsu called after her. "Not another demon now?"

"Bankotsu!" Kikyo's voice entered the cave from outside. "Come out and see!"

Bankotsu blinked, confused, and got up and followed her suit. "What is it this time?"

"Look up at the sky," Kikyo whispered, a look of pure happiness on her features. Bankotsu did so and felt his jaw drop slightly.

Meteors were flying across the night sky, their bright light twinkling down at them. They spread out in every direction, fast and furious, and yet, there was something strangely soothing about them. Each meteor appeared and disappeared like lightning, and made a vast contrast against their darkened background. Bankotsu vaguely recalled a story about falling angels, but he pushed that fanciful notion out of his mind. Nevertheless, the sight was truly…amazing.

"I've never seen this kind of thing before," Bankotsu mumbled, trying to follow each meteor that went past.

"Neither have I," Kikyo agreed. "Did you know, they say if you ever see a shooting star, or a meteor shower, your wishes would be granted?"

"You believe in stuff like that?" Bankotsu responded derisively, not tearing his gaze from the sky.

"I'd like to," Kikyo said. "Since you probably can never get to see a meteor shower in your whole lifetime."

"Heh…I guess we're one of the lucky few then," Bankotsu replied. "Having a second chance at life does help, after all."

"What would you wish for, Bankotsu?" Kikyo asked inquiringly.

Bankotsu blinked, and turned down to look at her. "Me?" Bankotsu thought for awhile. "Nothing, I suppose."

"Nothing?" Kikyo echoed confusedly.

"Nothing, and then you don't risk losing anything, right?" Bankotsu said, giving a lop-sided grin.

"You don't risk losing anything…if you possess nothing..." Kikyo pondered for a moment. She smiled again. "Yes, you're right about that."

"And I wish for nothing at the present moment, because, I'm not alone now. That's all I could ever ask for."

Kikyo's eyes widened a little in surprise, and then softened. "The same goes for me, too."

"Travel with me, then?" Bankotsu gave his own, honest-to-goodness smile. "If you want to, of course…" He reached out a hand.

Kikyo stared into his cerulean orbs. "Yes, of course I will." She took his hand in her own pale one. She felt his grip tighten around her palm, a grip that spoke of trustworthiness. Of strength. Of loyalty.

They continued to watch one of the most beautiful ways of nature, hand-in-hand. All the time, Bankotsu wondered that…maybe…just maybe…that if he could make up for all what the woman beside had been deprived of… and that she would do the same for him.

* * *

_**THE END**_

**Author's Note: I had this idea floating in my head all this while, and I didn't particularly feel like working on my other stories (Beautiful Illusions and the up-coming Tied Down)…so I just thought of typing this one while I get back my drive. **

**Well, these two characters in the fic don't really feel real LOVE towards each other…it's too soon, haha. But interest? Respect? Definitely. I've thinking about it, and these two really are more alike than most people think. The same goes for Bankotsu and Inuyasha, though I don't think they realize their similarities in the series, lol. Perhaps love will blossom while Bankotsu and Kikyo are travelling together? Most likely. But this is strictly a one-shot, and I'm not going to do anymore unless, somehow, someday, I might change my mind…? We'll see. **

**I hope I didn't make the characters OOC or anything. I tried my best to keep them in-character as much as possible. **

**Hope you enjoyed the fic, and remember…READ AND REVIEW!!!! If you like it, all the more you must. You would be breaking one of the unwritten laws of fanfiction if you leave a story you like un-reviewed. **


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